Pulling Punches
by linken63
Summary: Genma reveals to Soun that Ranma has been pulling his punches for years. See what happens when he suddenly stops. Set after the failed Wedding. (turns out not nearly as much blood and more like what if he started using actual martial arts moves instead of just throwing punches and ki blasts.)
1. The Prologue

Genma and Soun sat on the porch playing shogi as usual but today Soun had managed to convince Genma to share more about his training trip with Ranma.

"I don't understand Soun. he suddenly stopped going all out about three years ago." He heaved a sigh as he took his turn. "One day he came back from school for training and was no longer hitting as hard as he could. He stopped using techniques that might injure his opponent beyond a bruise. He even had the audacity to pull his punches with me. Not that I'm complaining we probably got more training done in the long haul because of it. If it weren't for the years of conditioning we underwent during our training he would have been breaking bones at that point."

Soun only nodded while thinking of his next turn. "Perhaps it was for the best then; besides its the mark of a great man and an even greater martial artist to know when to hold back." He smiled as he finally figured out a good move and executed it, rewarding himself with a sip of tea.

Genma looked frustrated for a second he was really hoping Soun wouldn't spot the flaw in his strategy. "But that's the thing he's been holding back against every opponent since then. And when I confronted him on it those years ago he made the excuse that: 'I don't like hurtin' people pop.' like a weakling. He even stopped going for real insults too."

Soun was still busy patting himself on the back he didn't notice Genma cheat by slipping an extra piece on the board that protected his strategy. "Well old friend maybe it's a good thing your son is so kind hearted."

Soun turned his eyes back to the board for his next turn and was hit with a sudden wave of confusion. He was certain his victory was assured last turn. He glared angrily at the board.

"I wasn't exaggerating when I said every opponent. I wasn't there to witness the fight between him and that Saffron guy but from what I hear this is the first time he's fought someone fully intending to bring bodily harm in years. From what I understand the guy could heal faster than Ranma could hurt him at the  
beginning of the fight and by the end Ranma was still standing and saffron was dead on the ground."

"He KILLED someone!?" Soun almost blew a gasket.

"Well not technically the guy was a demigod or a god or something like that, part Phoenix or whatever, after he died he turned into and egg or an egg appeared for him tone reborn from, I don't know. I just know the guy isn't permanently dead. But that's not important, from what Akane, tells me the boy never once threw a punch intend to break bones or cause internal damage, just to incapacitate.

Soun made his move while Genma was distracted and switch a few pieces around advantage back on his side. Game aside Soun was suddenly nervous, not for himself but for the wellbeing of Ranma's opponents. After a calming sip of tea he spoke, "Well I don't see the big problem so long as he doesn't go full out against anyone."

"But that's just the tip of it you remember our 5 days to learn a new skill rule when he was still a child the only skill he didn't master within 48 hours was the neko ken. And it only takes him seeing a technique two or three time to understand it and about 24-36 hour to make it his. 72 hours if he only sees it once. He already revealed to me that he's known the breaking point move since the first day of seeing it, has it fully mastered in fact. I'm sure that by now he could give the master a run for his money with the master's own skills at that. Heck he could probably take the old ghoul while he's at it."

"Yes I'm well aware of how quickly he learns if you recall he asked me to do a single run through of every Kata in the Tendo school months ago and came back to me the next day with them mastered and improved. It was simultaneously humiliating and awe inspiring to see him move through my own moves with more fluidity and grace than I ever could." Soun conceded.

"Pride aside I don't think he's been taking our sparring sessions seriously for a long time. It's only a matter of time before he realizes he doesn't have to put up with the stuff people put him through daily." Genma said as he discreetly moved one of Soun's pieces into a losing position and his own into a winning one.

However Soun caught him this time and shouted "LOOK A HUNDRED YEN" and quietly switched it so he had won the match while his oldest friend scrambled greedily for the nonexistent money. "Ah my mistake just a trick of the light." By the time Genma turned around it was too late to save the shogi match.

This conversation took place the day before the failed wedding.

A/N Sorry there's not more and if there are typos let me know. I type this on my phone so it may be a while before I make more if at all. I got a couple other one shot ideas. but who knows when I'll get around to putting them to paper. I don't mind if you don review. but I would appreciate your opinions on how I could improve. its probably gonna be rankane. [Edit] I came, I proofread, I conquered


	2. Doesn't hurt as much as you think

Ranma and Kane were walking to school a couple days after the incident. He still felt guilty about what he said that day. Ranma really did love Akane, he just got so dang nervous when he was asked about it or tried to bring it up himself. He'd been working on a technique that would help him say what he really felt. "All I have to do is keep myself distracted from what I'm saying and it should come out fine" he thought to himself as he flipped onto his hands while balancing on the fence post.

Akane watched him as he began to walk on two fingers while balancing on the fence. "Ugh why's he gotta be such a show off?!" She fumed silently, frustration evident on her face. She was about to start complaining to herself that she could be that good if only someone would train her seriously, when Ranma interrupted her line of thought.

"Hey 'kane?" Ranma beckoned effort clear in his voice he was focusing hard. Balancing all his weight on his little fingers was as hard as he hoped it would be and was taking 95% of his concentration. "You know I like you more than the other girls and stuff... "He trailed off as he almost lost his balance. "And I actually think y-you're kinda c-cute when you're being nice..."

Akane was so thrown off by the nice words she almost forgot to get flustered. Almost. A rosy blush snuck its way on to her face without her even noticing. She was going to say something when he abruptly behaving again.

Ranma needed to finish, sure he always kept a nonchalant air about him when he could but he wasn't using any Ki to help him do this notoriously difficult exercise.

"...Anyways I was wondering... if you wanted to go on a date or something?" He wasn't entirely sure what he had just said there he just knew from the look on Akane's face that he had succeeded in keeping his feet away from his mouth. "We can go anywhere and do anything you want just let me know when you want to do it."

Akane was so surprised by the question he legs gave out on her. She was at a loss for words sitting on the ground. Ranma noticed Akane on the floor and did a flip off the fence landing a couple feet away from Akane. Shaking his hands to loose the muscles before offering her one to help her up.

Akane was pulled from her shock by this gesture. She was so happy she could kiss him but she didn't. "O-Of course we can go on a date Ranma we should probably keep quiet about it so no one shows up to interrupt it. Saturday evening sound good we could go see a movie." Akane didn't let go of his hand after standing up. She instead started to walk with him in hand to school.

Ranma was pretty nervous that she was still holding his hand but he relaxed when she lean her head on his shoulder.

They were coming up on the school now and neither made a move to separate. He could see Kuno standing there with the katana he used to attack the wedding.

"What is that psycho doing now?!" Akane shouted. Akane could feel Ranma tense up.

"I'm so tired of dealing with him every day. And now he's decided to take off the kiddy gloves." He mumbled making a disgruntled sound. "Fine. If hurting people is the only way to get through to them then the gloves are coming off." And add in his head. "I'm gonna give him one last chance to rethink this and then I'm going to put him in a body cast."

"Ranma!" Akane sounded shocked. He stopped to look at her. "Be careful." Worry evident on her face.

"Fine I won't break any bones... this time." He thought as he walked in to the school court yard. He reluctantly let go of Akane's hand and got into a stance.

Akane instantly noticed the difference between this fight and every other fight his stance wasn't nonchalant as it usually was; this time it was solid low and ready, showing no openings. She'd never seen him take a stance like this before. Somewhere in the back of her mind screamed "that's a judo stance" (1)

"Kuno this is your last and only chance to back off Akane and I." He shouted with a lot more authority than anyone present had ever seen him use; simultaneously cutting off the rest of Kuno's speech about how it has always been his family's responsibility to strike down evil.

Kuno seemed to ponder the implied threat for a moment before his fantasy world took hold again.

Suddenly he wasn't Tatewaki Kuno, high school level kendo regional champ, but the great blue thunder of Furinkan high invincible slayer of demons. Shouting "HAVE AT THEE FOUL SORCERER!" He raised the family honor blade high above his head and rushed his opponent.

Ranma took a deep breathe in, centered himself and released the soul of ice technique to keep himself calm. Students watching from the building suddenly felt the temperature drop a good thirty degrees. Kuno was upon him now bringing the sword down. And suddenly he was on the floor. Ranma had executed a basic judo flip and was still hold the wrist of the hand still currently housing the honor blade. For a second Kuno pondered the odd pressure in his wrist it wasn't noticeable at first in fact it still wasn't all that painful, he heard something clatter to the floor and suddenly his hand was free. He stared at his hand in fascination for a moment. It appeared to be fine but he could not feel his fingers nor could he convince them to move.

"Stand up Kuno we aren't done here." Ranma said seriousness betraying the easy at which he disabled his opponent. Kuno was to his feet rattling another butchered Shakespearean style speech.

Kuno was on the advance again swinging the blade about with one hand. The attacks were painstakingly slow well at least for Ranma they were. This time Ranma stepped into Kuno's guard his first punch disarmed and disabled Kuno's other hand. His next three punches disabled the arms at the shoulders and his leg at the waist. These punches were thrown at the speed of a normal fighter so Kuno could watch them happen.

The last one broke Kuno's nose with a resounding crack Ranma's fist struck like a whip. Blood gushed from his nose. Somewhere in the back of his head Kuno noticed how the injury didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would. And somewhere in Ranma's mind he commented "still not technically a bone"

"Listen up Kuno and listen good cause I'm only gonna say this once. From now on the next time you or anyone else attacks me or Akane I will take it as a challenge not only against me and my school of martial arts but to my honor as a martial artist as well and will not hold back any longer." He said this loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. With that Ranma turn picked up the katana and broke the blade several times with a few chops and lightly tapped the hilt with a single finger. The hilt promptly crumbled to sawdust.

At that he walked back Akane, whom he already knew he had pissed off with his last comment and promptly apologized for implying that she couldn't fight for herself. He also reassured her that none of Kuno's injuries would be permanent. She breathed a sigh of relief as Ranma suddenly stopped being the calculating martial artist and started being Ranma the cocky jerk she loved.

"Actually Ranma with everything that's happened this past month... I was wondering if you would help me train to get better." Ranma could tell that asking this was a blow to her pride so he tried to be gentle.

"Alright but before we start you have to get your temper under control." He said when she seemed to take offense to that he quickly tacked on "an angry fighter is a sloppy fighter." This worked to appease her. He had to hold back the urge to sigh in relief things were going well today he thought. "Maybe pops is right about this." He smiled as he took Akane's hand and they walked into the school making it to class on time.

A/n

It seems Ranma overheard Gemma's conversation. As always thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a review.

(1) Judo was originally created to combat armed and armored foes. Not to mention foes the outclassed you in height and weight.


	3. Meal Time Mashup and RoofTop Rendezvous

School today was going pretty horrid for Kuno. Normally he'd wake up a few moments after the bell in the infirmary but today was different, he was given the misfortune of being awake through every moment of pain until he was properly treated. It was quite the blow to his ego having his fighting style dissected by that cretin Ranma. Not to mention how Ranma and Akane had been holding hands during the walk to school.

Returning from Dr. Tofu's clinic to school he couldn't help but feel shame at the sight of his family blade shattered in the dirt. The hilt was nowhere to be seen. What had he been thinking bringing in a real katana and the family honor blade at that? Suddenly it occurred to him he had been thoroughly, without a doubt in his mind, out classed by Ranma. Reality suddenly crushed his fantasy world. "How long has he been capable of-" it pained him to even think of the word being applied to himself "-defeating me so completely." he thought back to the first fight he had with Ranma. He never once took an actual stance beyond his usual relaxed one. In fact if Kuno recalled right the only reason the fight ended was because it started raining. Actually if Kuno remembered correctly a lot of his fights often ended because of water. It was also right after his second fight with Ranma being interrupted by water did he meet his pigtailed goddess. Suddenly he could list a hundred similar occurrences; where in Ranma would disappear and be replaced by the pigtailed goddess. He would have words with Nabiki about this as well as how long Ranma has been such a great fighter. He would have to ask during lunch because class was already started. He pulled himself out of his thought as he walked into the door to his classroom, a whirlwind of murmurs kicked up between his classmates who were immediately quelled by his teacher.

"I assume you have a doctor's note?" Mr. Sakamoto postulated, holding his hand out for the note skimming it shortly. "I will inform your Physical education teacher and Kendo instructor of the doctor's ruling against your participation. The vice principal has requested to see you after class today privately. Take your seat."

Kuno was about to protest against being barred from these activities but Mr. sakamoto's tone left no room for argument. "Yes sir.." Kuno mumbled quietly and he took his seat and began to endure class moving at a snail's pace.

* * *

Nabiki on the other hand was having a wonderful day everyone had lost the betting pool today which means she had won the jackpot. No one mot even herself had expected that kind of beat down today. Though she was concerned about other pools she had going for one the dating pool. She was fairly certain she had just lost a good chunk of yen based on the hand holding she caught Ranma and Akane she could fix that by "accidentally" letting it slip in front of their fathers. Then again Akane did look happy. "maybe I won't" she mused silently.

Kuno walked in sometime after the bell still looking pretty shaken. His nose in a splint. "If Ranma messed up Kuno's dumb, handsome face he and I are gonna have a problem." she fumed to no one but herself. Nabiki's little infatuation with Kuno was the best kept secret in Nermia, solely because she was the only one who knew about it. Kuno made a gesture to Nabiki that meant they were meeting up for lunch so he could get some info. She gave a nod and pointed a finger up which meant the meeting would take place on the roof. A couple hours stretched by and the bell rang for lunch block "A"; Kuno's face lit up for a second before realizing it wasn't actually time yet. "Sorry Kuno baby 45 more minutes."

* * *

Ranma's day was still going pretty well. He still felt a little guilty about hurting Kuno… but not enough to keep him from falling asleep in class.

A short time into his nap Mrs. Hinako dropped a text book from on top of her desk with a resounding boom startling Ranma awake. He was on his feet in the blink of an eye, poised to fight. He could hear some people restraining the urge to laugh.

"Mr. Saotome if my class is so boring perhaps you'd prefer to hold buckets in the hall" Mrs. Hinako's voice full of authority despite sounding like a child. "And as added punishment you are not to hold the buckets at your side but like this." she made a "T" with her arms. "And you are to do it across the hall from the classroom door so I can check and make sure you aren't slacking."

Ranma sighed lately her punishments were getting a little more severe. "yes, Mrs. Hinako." just as he was exiting the room she added, "And no using ki to make it easier."

Ranma groaned inwardly, she had just made a difficult punishment that much harder...

* * *

He ended up out there until lunch bell rang.

"You may stop now Mr. Soatome." called from the classroom. Ranma sighed as he retrieved his lunch and left to join Akane for lunch outside.

He was nearing the tree Akane sat under when he heard a familiar "BBRRING BBRRING" his smile quickly faded to a full blown scowl.

Akane watched in fascination as Ranma ducked under the front tire of Shampoo's bike and at speeds surpassing the amiguriken dismantled the bike and threw the pieces in different directions over the horizon. Akane quietly wondered if Ranma was sorer toward anyone than the amazons after this past month.

"Aiya husband why you do that?!" Shampoo shouted in her faux cutesy voice, Akane was convinced Shampoo didn't sound like that 24/7.

"Because I'm tired of you using my face as a landing pad!" he shouted

"Shampoo only trying to surprise husband with lunch. Shampoo make special for you husband." she said as she pulled him into a rib cracking hug.

Akane was about to get jealous when suddenly Shampoo was sent sliding away from Ranma, his hand still extended from the open palm strike that undoubtedly would leave a bruise.

"AIYA! Kitchen wrecker must make food for husband again if he this mad. Here you eat special made ramen now." Akane took offense to that but kept her distance she could see Ranma was about to lose his cool.

Ranma was about to say something when he found his mouth suddenly full of noodle and chopstick. This only served to set him off further he bit down and broke the chopsticks in halves and spit them and the noodles into the dirt, the points of the chopsticks embedding in the dirt. "AFTER ALL THE TIMES YOU TRIED DRUGGING ME WITH YOUR FOOD YOU THINK I'D ACTUALLY EAT SOMETHING YOU MADE FOR 'SPECIAL' FOR ME." Ranma sent a single jab out and poked a finger through the side of the bowl which promptly exploded showering Shampoo in ramen and glass. The few fresh cuts now marring Shampoo's face gently oozed blood. Shampoo looked ready to cry. Ranma mentally shrugged and grabbed Shampoo by the collar shouting "Next time I see you I'll consider it a challenge against my honor as a martial artist." He paused before quietly adding so only Shampoo could hear, "Consider this my version of the kiss of death; next time I see you, you'll be going home covered in a cast instead of ramen." at the Ranma threw Shampoo back to the Neko haten.

Akane was shocked she was going to talk to him about how he shouldn't have broken Kuno's nose but the still on his face said this was not the right time to discuss either of the happenings that had occurred so far today. She sighed, she couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise today.

* * *

Nabiki was on the roof enjoying her lunch while counting her yen. She had made another sum of cash after Ranma's lunch block. She started putting the cash away she was expecting Kuno any moment now. As she finished putting it away she heard Kuno speak up.

"Nabiki Tendo, I require two pieces of information on that cretin Soatome."

"Well Kuno you know how this works" she cooed hand held out for compensation first.

"Right, of course. I would like to know how long Ranma Soatome has been holding back against his opponents."

"Ooh, Kuno that one is gonna cost you 40,000 yen." she stuck out her hand expecting a much smaller stack of bills than she received.

"That is 200,000 yen in return I expect all information to be 100% true and riddle and word play free." His tone showed he was serious. Nabiki was kind of shocked by both the seriousness of his tone and the hefty sum he handed her but she didn't let it show on her face. She quickly counted the bills before  
"Well then, I heard directly from Ranma's father that he started holding back against all opponents three years prior to arriving here in Nermia; no word on why though. Next question." She stated matter-of-factly. Sometimes the information game was too easy.

"What is the connection between Ranma and the pigtailed girl and what does it have to do with water?" Kuno's hand already counting bills.

Nabiki sighed 'there goes one of my biggest sources of income; better milk this question for all its worth,' she mused before saying "That's gonna cost something other than money." Maybe I should take this chance, he seems a lot more rational today, I wonder if that his rattled his brain of something.

"And what might that be?" he questioned, eyeing Nabiki carefully. Her alternate forms of payment usually tended to be expensive even if the money didn't go directly to her.

"You're going to take me out on a date, Saturday evening." she said watching him get that adorable confused look again. "I'll let you handle the where and what we do."

Kuno sighed maybe he could keep this from being overly expensive. "Alright I'll pick you up from your house saturday evening."

"The pigtailed girl and Ranma are the same person. Ranma has a curse that causes him to turn female when splashed with cold water, however warm water returns him to normal. He received this curse in a training accident while at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo shortly before leaving china."

"I see if you are not willing to speak the truth then I shall take my funds back and get the truth directly from the source." he reached for the wad of cash sitting in Nabiki's lap.

Nabiki slapped Kuno's hand hard, while saying "Hold it Kuno baby I got video proof." she pulled a camcorder out of her bag and pulled up the appropriate video. She watched as Kuno's eye bulged out of his head after seeing Ranma's transformation to and from his female form. Kuno sat there too stunned to move, he sat there processing this info against all his memories.

"Are there others?" he asked sounding a bit devastated, Nabiki merely list off who and what they turned into. She figured he deserved a freebie after all the times she had sold him pictures of his hated rival. Hopefully he won't come looking for a refund.

* * *

A/N: thanks for reading and leaving reviews for me. I'm glad you like it. I'm having more fun writing it than I thought I would. I'm probably gonna come back later and rework some spots in this chapter before moving on to the next. [edit] I came, I proofread, I conquered.

As I've said before don't be afraid to share your honest opinion.


	4. Looking Forward to Saturday

A/N: For those of you worried/curious I don't plan on pairing off the other characters in usual pairs or at all for that matter. I personally thought Nabiki had a thing for Kuno in the manga/anime and if I were to actually pair anyone else it would be Kasumi with Dr. Tofu, but I don't know if that's even gonna come up. If it happens you can feel welcome to come and hunt down the demon/alien/monster that has assumed my identity. Also only one character will wind up actually hurt maybe two; I'm making this up as I go, so you know. Also I have another couple sorta one shot ideas that but I wanted to see which you would like to see next. The first is an au in which Ranma has never gone to school before Furinkan high, and his father never bothered to teach him anything other than martial arts (the only interaction he's had with Ryoga in this universe would be when their paths cross on the road, they become sparring partners instead of rivals). The second is a story in which Ranma has personal space issues, in that anytime someone touches him in a nonviolent way he freezes up sometimes to the point where he shies away. I don't really have any ideas past these being like a single chapter but I'm sure once I start writing I'll have some ideas come up. Or I could meld them into one. Maybe I'll set up a poll for that later. Anyway...

* * *

Ranma's day has been steadily heading south since its high point this morning when he had successfully asked Akane for a date. He's been thinking of ways to keep himself from getting nervous during the date. He had a couple idea's, the first was to start buying and trying to solve those little wire puzzles he seen the smarter kids in class do; the other was to do increasingly difficult exercises in ways that were completely undetectable. Like instead of actually sitting in a chair he'd do a squat close enough to the chair that it seemed like he was sitting but never actually relaxing into the seat. Outside this he had nothing maybe he could talk to someone about this sort of thing. The problem is the only person he could talk to about this sort of thing was Dr. Tofu but he gets all weird at the slightest mention of Kasumi. "That's it!" he almost said aloud, "Kasumi is always calm and happy even when she should be pretty mad at people. She's gotta know of some way to keep calm in all sorts of situations." But for now he had asked to borrow one of the wire puzzles Toyo in class his had solved. He said he had to reset it but seemed otherwise happy to lend it to Ranma.

Ranma's school day was winding to a close as he was packing his things and heading to wait for Akane to walk home with her.

Akane was having the strangest day it was like one of those dreams she has when Ranma stops acting like a jerk. But then there were those moments where Ranma didn't seem like himself. But outside those moments he seemed fine.

Akane was walking from the classroom to meet with Ranma; she spotted him in the distance leaning against the school gate, he seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands. She called his name a couple times but he seemed too focused on what was in her hands so she waited until she was standing with him to get his attention. She waved a hand in front of his face, he looked up and smiled a bright smile that almost melted her heart.

"Oh hey Akane when'd you get here?" his eyes shot back to his hands occasionally as he said this "you ready to go home?" After he finished talking his eyes were glued back to the puzzle.

"Yeah, sorry for making you wait Yuki and Sayori were trying to get me to hang out Saturday evening I had to come up with an excuse not to which..." Akane trailed off, was he even listening?! She caught a glance at what he was doing with his hands; he was working on one of those puzzles where the objective was to get the lengths of wire apart without bending the wire. She was about to hit him for ignoring but he suddenly responded.

"You didn't tell them about our date did you?" His eyes never once leaving the task in hand.

"...No I managed to convince them that Kasumi was giving me cooking lessons that day and I invited them to come taste test, they refused but told me that if anything changes I should meet them at the downtown mall. Which from the looks of it means we're going to have to go uptown for our movie." She said still not completely convinced he was listening.

"Oh okay, good job. And speaking of our date plans, what movie are we going to go see?" He still wasn't looking at her while he talked. She for a second wondered if he even cared.

"It's a surprise. You'll have to wait and see!" there that's what he gets for not paying any attention to me. Ranma begged for a minute or so, to know what movie it was but he never looked up from the puzzle. From there the conversation slowly relaxed into an uncomfortable, for Akane, silence she really needed to get this off her chest and just ask him. So she pushed down the butterflies, for their upcoming date, in her stomach and took the plunge. She stopped walking to ask.

"Ranma are you okay? You've been acting strange ever since the wedding fiasco. Especially with your rivals and other fiancées." The butterflies returned with a vengeance, this time they were nervous about Ranma's response.

Ranma heaved a sigh. "I dunno 'kane. It's just outside you Hiroshi and Diasuke, if you can count those pervs, the closest thing I have to friends is my rivals and the crazy fiancées. And excluding the Kunos and the Amazons, Shampoo and Cologne specifically, as people I don't actually care for I'm left with Ryoga, Ukyo and Moose as friends. And even though I'm glad that they interrupted the wedding, cause let's face it no matter how much we love each other we aren't ready to marry, it was wrong of them to do so. Friends just don't treat each other the way they treat you and I; heck even rivals don't treat each other like this. I guess I'm just fed up with them not treating us as people. And sometimes it seems like the only thing that gets through their thick heads is violence; so I guess I decided to do it their way and stop going easy on them."

Akane decided to, for Ranma's sake, gloss over the fact that he had just said that he loved her again. "Is that why you actually hit Shampoo today? And broke Kuno's nose?"

"Yeah I mean... I did try to talk to them first." He suddenly sounded self-conscious.

"You broke Kuno's nose and if that palm strike on Shampoo had been a little upwards you might have broken her ribs?!" He looked up from the puzzle his hands still absentmindedly playing with it, he looked nervous. Akane sighed, she couldn't stay mad not about this, he was making an effort towards some normalcy in his and her lives. Someone had to take the first step and she supposed it had to be Ranma for it to have any real effect. "Look do you want me to help you with this before you wind up ruining your friendship with the other three."

"M-maybe not with Ukyo, I think if you're there she won't believe a word of anything we say. And I got something private to discuss with Ryoga. I figure I'll be seeing Moose or Cologne sometime before the end of the day." He was still messing with that puzzle. She was getting tired of him fidgeting like that; it felt like she wasn't getting his full attention.

"WOULD YOU STOP FIDGETING WITH THAT THING FOR A MINUTE AND TALK TO ME?!" she yelled as she snatched it from his hands.

"HEY GIVE THAT BACK! I NEED THAT!" Ranma shouted immediately trying to snatch it back. He just knew he was going to say something dumb without it.

"NO, WHY DO YOU NEED IT SO MUCH!" She shouted more of a demand than a question in this shouting match.

"SO I CAN TALK TO YOU WITHOUT GETTING NERVOUS YOU DUMB TOMBOY" Ranma screamed back in retaliation.

"RANMA YOU- YOU JERK" Akane throttled him; launching him back toward the high school, and turned the other way to storm off going home. Later when she calmed down enough to think about it, she would realize that he was actually being kinda sweet in his own dumb way.

* * *

Kuno walked into the vice principal's office, Mr. Shimazu the replacement after the previous one quit sometime after Kuno's father had returned. He was a lot more no nonsense than his predecessor. Kuno silently wondered what this was about. Somewhere, in the far back of his mind now, fantasy Kuno stated that the vice principal must want to help get rid of the foul demon, real world Kuno **_knew_** this was about him bringing a real weapon to school. How could he have gotten so caught up in his own denial that he had completely lost track of reality.

"You may come in now Mr. Kuno." the gruff voice of the assistant principal sounded from his office. Kuno obeyed immediately. "Please have a seat." If Kuno wasn't keen on these things before he was now, he could tell right off the bat that Mr. Shimazu was a seasoned martial artist and a serious one. "Kuno can I ask you something, do you know why you're here?"

"It is because I brought a real katana to school instead of my practice bokken." Kuno said sheepishly.

"Yes that is one of the reasons why you are here today and we will get to your punishment on that, as well as your other infractions, soon enough." Mr. Shimazu sighed this was going to be difficult the boy had just gotten his father back too. "The main reason is that, and this brings me no joy to say, your father has been incarcerated for harassing the student body as well as some of the pedestrians passing by the school, effective tomorrow I will be the school's principal." He looked to Kuno to see if he needed comforting but was astounded to see the boy wasn't even slightly concerned; usually this kind of news devastated someone. "Are you alright son you know this means you are going to be on your own again?"

"I'm well aware of that... it's just that he abandoned us a long time ago and even after he came back he still wasn't really around much so nothing has changed in that regard." Kuno spoke evenly if not still intimidated by the now principal Shimazu. "Frankly sir, I'd rather move on from the subject."

"... Alright, well then let's start from the beginning of the school year then." Kuno paled he was here for every infraction he had committed throughout the year. This might take a while. "You interrupted the freshmen orientation to say that anyone capable of defeating, a Miss. Akane Tendo in battle wins the right to date her. This caused a horde of about 50-70 of our male student body to challenge her to a fight every day before class. Honestly who do you think you are to decide who this girl dates and who she doesn't? Next we have you attacking a new student on his first day of school not once but twice, luck for you he turned out to be a martial artist with an extreme sense of self control, were it me in his shoes you would have gotten that injury with in the first month." Mr. Shimazu gestured toward his nose and Kuno got the message. "Then you proceeded to attack both him and his fiancée up until today. Not to mention all the attacks on him off school property. And speaking of school property all the property damage. And last but not least your serious offense earlier this morning. Now given that your record up until this year has been spotless and with near perfect grades the school board has decided to be lenient and not expel you, instead they've decided that you are to have in-school suspension for the rest of the year you will be allowed interaction with your homeroom classmates and no-one else. Outside that you are to apologize to Miss. Tendo daily as well as Mr. Saotome. In addition after observing you this past month, I have decided that every Wednesday after school you are to attend counseling with Miss. Kobayashi." Kuno could feel the fantasy world he had built for himself being demolished brick by brick today.

"But that's the day Kendo club practices!" Kuno complained.

"Precisely until Miss. Kobayashi deems it fit you are not to attend kendo club." There a familiar yell coming from outside. Mr. Shimazu sighed he stood up and unlatched the window, opening it just in time for Ranma to fly in without shattering any glass. "Ah wonderful just who I was hoping to catch today." Ranma stood up rubbed his face no doubt the red slap mark still stung an uncouth "huh" was all they got from him. "Kuno I believe there is something you needed to say to Ranma here."

"Ah... Right" Kuno thought he would have more time to prepare. He took a breath, and looked him in the eyes. "Ranma... I would to apologize for all the grief I've given you since you started here; I truly regret my actions. I understand if you do not forgive me, but I would hope we might still be able to become friends."

"Ah geez, this is weird." Ranma thought, he was still rubbing his cheek. "It's... ah- it's alright Kuno you're forgive, I guess, I'm sorry for destroying your family honor blade, I know how important that can be especially for you. You should really apologize to Akane though; probably promise not to pursue her anymore."

"Alright Kuno that's a good start you are dismissed for the day. Tomorrow you are to show up in regular uniform and wait for Miss. Tendo to show up tomorrow and apologize. Then you are to come to me and I will show you to the in school suspension class room." Ranma and Kuno started to leave. "Mr. Saotome could you hold back for a few minutes?"

* * *

Ranma stopped short from the door. "Please have a seat." Ranma obliged. "Now it is my understanding that you are a martial artist with several rivals?" He looked to Ranma for confirmation who just nodded. "Alright then I will just come out and say it. Starting tomorrow you are to no longer fight while in school grounds; part of being a martial artist is knowing when and where to have a fight. If one of your rivals shows up inform them of this new rule and should they persist you are to move the fight off school grounds and handle it as quickly as possible and return to school as soon as possible. Are we clear?"

Ranma could tell there was no room for argument this time. "yes sir..." Ranma felt awkward like he should definitely be standing up to this guy, but nothing he said sounded unreasonable. "Is that everything?"

"Well there is also the subject of your previous schooling. Am I correct in assuming that you would go great lengths of time not attending school until recently?" Ranma nodded. "Well your grades are pretty good considering you must have missed out on some key basic info. Tell me what are your plans for after high school?"

"Well I was planning on just teaching at the dojo." Mr. Shimazu nodded after he heard this.

"Okay well you do know that you need to go to school so you can get a business license and a take some teaching courses before you can even consider opening your dojo doors to the public. Or were you planning on letting Nabiki keep you indebted for the rest of your life by handling your finances for you?" Ranma paled at the idea of still being indebted to Nabiki for years to come. Mr. Shimazu didn't stop for an answer. "I wouldn't either. Anyway I was hoping you would consider getting with a tutor after school some days to help improve your grade."

"I'll think about it." in truth Ranma was actually seriously considering it if it meant having Nabiki out of his wallet then he was all the happier.

"That's all I ask. You are excused." Ranma got up and left as swiftly as possible. Kuno was waiting outside the office for him holding out a letter.

"Please would you give this letter of apology to Akane Tendo?"

'GAH today just keeps getting weirder and weirder.' he thought as he took the letter "sure."

At that he took off full speed before something stranger could happen. He was out of the building in seconds down the street and across the bridge in a mere moment only slowing down to make sure he didn't get splashed by the old lady. After he passed her he resumed his full speed sprint back to the Tendo home instead of going right in the door he jumped to the roof and climbed in through the window. He heaved a sigh of relief to be home and in his room. All he had to do was find the right time to give Akane the apology letter and he was scot-free. And if he was lucky there would be no late night interruptions.

* * *

A/N X2: jeez kinda Glad that's done. Sorry if Ranma or anyone else seems OOC this story is starting to go a different way than expected. Also I'm sorry for the wait with this that first scene with Ranma and Akane gave me trouble toward the end.


	5. Is it Saturday yet? Not yet

Kasumi's morning had been wonderful she woke up thirty minutes early so she had time to brew a cup of tea and enjoy the sunrise before the morning routine. She had time to prepare an extra special meal for Ranma and Akane's first day back at school after their ordeal. The repairs are going smoothly on the dojo. She had minimal chores to do; some light dusting a few dishes hang out the laundry to dry later in the day when the sun came out, afterwards she went shopping with the money Nabiki gave her for tonight's dinner. She did do most of the chores but when you keep up with it like she did there was hardly anything to really worry about until the more hectic days returned. She loved Ranma and his family like they were a part of her own but he seemed to attract destruction. Oh well she and her family were accustomed to it now.

Her evening had gone smoothly the man at the fish market gave her a special price on the tuna and made her way home with tonight's ingredients. She could have sworn she saw that boy Ranma likes to fight, Ryoga setting up his camp in a vacant lot on the way home she would have stopped to invite him over for dinner but she was fairly certain that Ranma was still angry with him; plus she needed to get home with the tuna before it started to spoil and he seemed too caught up in his own world muttering something about a bike frame falling on him. She smiled the world Ranma and his friends lived in must be so exciting.

She made it home about a half hour before Ranma and her sisters got home from school she prepped the ingredients for the meal tonight a southern American fish stew she read about in a magazine about a week ago. Of course she was making her own take on the recipe the where the recipe called for something called crawfish she was using shrimp and where it called for a trout she was using tuna. It would change the flavor of the dish slightly to use shrimp and tuna instead of what the recipe called for but she was adjusting to compensate for it. Depending on how everyone liked it she might add it to mom's cookbook. Akane offered to help at a little after she got home but by that point she was almost done preparing it. She was now outside sweeping up the doorstep while the dish simmered. The timer on her apron chimed quietly, signifying the meal was ready would be ready soon and she should cook some rice so they'd be ready together. On her way in she stopped to ask her father to set the table and call everyone for Dinner when he finished his current game with Mr. Saotome. About ten minutes later the meal was ready. Strange Ranma usually was home by now.

Ranma sat at his desk trying to do his homework silently since he came home, he was getting frustrated. It's just no good he felt like… like a kid trying to do a high level martial arts move without any training, as if he were missing some basic ground work everyone else got. He sighed "I guess this is what I get for not going to school for all those years. Hopping into high school with only three years of prior schooling was kinda stupid. Not that I had any say in the matter. This is all pops' fault" Not to mention that they weren't even complete years. The new principal was right maybe he should get a tutor. He just needed to convince himself that getting help wasn't like admitting defeat… it was getting training just like martial arts getting a tutor would only help him get better.

He heard people talking outside his room Kasumi was asking Akane where Ranma was for a change she didn't accuse him of being off with Shampoo. He sighed I suppose this means that it's almost time for dinner if Kasumi was asking about him. He nearly had this math problem, he never really understood geometry. Or any math really. Akane and Kasumi were still talking and he was absolutely sure that nobody knew he was here. Suddenly he got the idea to do a prank. They had moved on from the topic of him and started talking about cooking. He silently crept over to the door and quickly slid it open without slamming it but still sudden enough to startle the girls. The look on Akane's face was priceless but Kasumi was still characteristically stoic, her face only changing to a disappointed frown. Seeing her like that reminded Kasumi he wanted to talk about keeping his mouth under control when he was talking to Akane.

"Ranma, when did you get home?" She huffed. Ranma silently wandered if Kasumi was secretly a martial artist like Dr. Tofu. Then she definitely would have sensed him coming.

"RANMA YOU JERK! YOU SHOULDN'T SNEAK UP ON PEOPLE LIKE THAT." Akane screamed her heart pounding in her chest.

"Sorry Akane, I couldn't resist." He managed through his chuckling. Akane stormed off in a huff trying not to get to angry about a silly prank. Kasumi stayed back a moment to talk to Ranma after he stopped laughing.

"Well, I'm glad you're home safe Ranma. Dinner will be ready shortly so you should go wash up now." Kasumi went to turn and go back down stairs to plate everyone's meal, until Ranma spoke up.

"U-um… Kasumi, can I ask you something really quick?" She turned back to Ranma and gave him a nod to go ahead. "How do you do that? You're always so… what's the word- composed! How do you always keep cool under pressure? Every time I try to talk to 'kane or any of the other girls I say things I don't mean t'. I'm a martial artist dang it. talkin' to girls shouldn't make me nervous. It's just I'm tired of being a jerk t' Akane when I don't wanna be." Ranma stopped talking he was starting to get nervous just asking Kasumi about this; he'd always been comfortable talking to Kasumi, she and Dr. Tofu were really the only people he ever confided in. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!" He yelled in his head. She stood there for a moment.

"Well Ranma… Perhaps this is something we could talk about after dinner. Give me some time to come up with an answer for you. We could talk in the kitchen if you don't mind helping me do the dishes."

"U-uh sure thing Kasumi" Ranma stammered out.

"Then it's settled, now why don't you go get washed up for dinner." She gave him one of those gentle reassuring smiles. She was definitely proud of him for making the first step toward bettering himself as a person instead of a martial artist.

* * *

Kuno stepped into his bedroom that afternoon and looked at the walls of his room, he blanched at the sight of the oversized, blown-up versions of photos he had purchased of Akane and Ranma. "Maybe I should sleep in a different room tonight." He thought aloud quietly. He was silently disgusted with himself "I'll have Sasuke remove the photos of Ranma tomorrow while I'm at school. I should probably get rid of the ones of Akane too." He sighed this was going to take some getting used to. He went to lie down in the unused guest bedroom. He went straight to sleep for the evening.

* * *

Ryoga still couldn't believe a bike frame had fallen from the sky and landed on his head. He was minding his business trying to find Akari when out of nowhere he was slammed into by it. Honestly what are the chances? And add insult to injury he was pretty sure it was Ranma's fault the thing looked like it had been torn apart piece by piece by hand, and he only knew enough people, strong enough to do that, that he could count them on his fingers. Now he was lost in some city again, he swore to himself this was also Ranma's fault somehow. And first thing tomorrow he was gonna go searching for him to get his revenge.

* * *

Ranma and Kasumi were standing in the kitchen doing dishes; Kasumi washing, Ranma drying and putting them away. Ranma was still wet after the meal, at some point he and his father got into an argument and his father splashed him with his glass of water; which ignited a full out brawl between the two in the yard, that lasted about 5 minutes before he and Mr. Saotome were finished. Afterwards dinner finished about a smoothly as usual. Everyone enjoyed the meal thoroughly, and the recipe was definitely going in mom's cookbook. Ranma now stood in his girl form a considerably shorter, red head grumbling about how he had almost gone a full day without changing.

Kasumi was just about to finish washing the plates and move onto cleaning the pots and pans she had used when she decided it was time to chime in and answer Ranma's earlier question. "Ranma would you like to discuss your problem now?" He seemed considerably less nervous than before.

"huh, Oh yeah that sounds great." He was still stewing about getting changed.

"So I was thinking maybe you have a classic case of stage fright. Anytime you get put in the spotlight you get nervous. So I was thinking maybe you should try a classic stage fright cure. The next time you find yourself needing to say something important you should try and practice it aloud or in your head over and over. I'm not sure if my personal way of keeping calm would help you. But I do know one thing that could help you and Akane, there was a tip my mother shared with me when I got into arguments with friends, she'd always say 'remember to respond to what they say not react' I personally took it to mean to think about what i would say in response before just shouting the first thing that came to mind because I was angry. It's the reason I didn't yell at you for sneaking up on Akane and I earlier." She wasn't entirely sure how she does it; it was just second nature for her at this point. She had discovered a self-help book in Dr. Tofu's office a long time ago that he had let her borrow it had contained information on the matter. She had applied some of the tips in the book to her life but most she found did not necessarily apply to her. It's too bad Dr. Tofu had torn it to shreds after she returned it. He was such a silly man. At this point Kasumi was handing Ranma the last pot to dry and put away. "You have to remember, Ranma, that everyone has their own way of dealing with nervousness and stress. Maybe you just need to find your own anything goes style way."

Ranma looked at her like the solution couldn't possibly be so simple. "I'm sorry about that Kasumi, I shouldn't have done that to you two. And I'll try to use your suggestions." The last part of it made him smile. Kasumi always knew exactly what to say to cheer him up.

"Why don't you go get ready for bed? I can handle the rest from here Ranma." She said all but pushing Ranma out the kitchen."Thank you for helping me clean up." Ranma wanted to protest he didn't mind helping her finish but she already had him on the way out.

"No I'm the one who should be thanking you, so yeah... thank you for the advice Kasumi" and with that he left to get prepared for bed, glad the day was finally over.

* * *

a/n:  
Writing from kasumi's point of view was so... like a chore not fun 3/10 would not do again. i'm tired and you guys have waited long enough for a new chapter. Also i want to thank everyone for their kind words literally being the only source of motivation i have to finishing actually typing this out. I kinda sorta have an idea as to how the next 2-4(?) chapters are gonna go. as well as an ending i've always had in mind that's gonna need some tweaking to not be terrible writing and out of style for the ranma series. also the next day probably will be about 2 chapters long instead of five(?) _**anyway remember to leave me a review so i keep motivated.**_


	6. What A Beautiful Morning!

**A/N:** Thank you to _J Luc Pitard and Shugokage_ for your wonderful support. Also I put up that poll on my profile I was talking about a couple chapters ago. As always please leave a review. Anyway on with the story!

* * *

Cologne stood up from her meditative position in her room. She had gotten a late start this morning she hated to admit it but this modern living has caused her to go a little soft. But, to be fair, she was up late last night contemplating what she was going to do about her future son-in-law's sudden attitude change. She thought back to yesterday afternoon Shampoo had come back to her obviously distressed about something, but it was the lunch rush and she hadn't had time to confront her granddaughter until late last night. Shampoo had eventually revealed a hand shaped bruise across her stomach that was flourishing with hues of purple and yellow telling her that it was Ranma's and how he had sworn that the next time he saw her, he would attack as if he had issued a kiss of death to her.

As if that wasn't bad enough Cologne was almost sure through Shampoo's sobbing she heard her say that he wasn't going to eat anything made by the amazons anymore. Meaning most ingested infatuation potions/poisons, depending on point of view, were no longer going to be a viable option for seducing Ranma. These days Shampoo's troubles where becoming more and more like Cologne's own when she was young except the roles were reversed and she was nearly 40 when it happened to her. She supposed she could relate to Ranma on this in some ways. She recalled the young man who chased her for nearly 15 years before he finally defeated Cologne in combat and she was required by honor and law to marry him. Though she had gone easy on the guy, what could she say he had grown on her, too bad he wouldn't take her advice on extending his lifespan. She sigh sometimes she missed her own Airen, but she had allowed her mind to wander and it was time to get back to the task at hand.

She jumped down the stairs it was nearing 6:30 am if her guess was right Ranma would be getting ready for the day with his daily spar with his father meaning she still has time to get the prep work done before leaving to confront him this morning for Shampoo. She swiftly prepared the ingredients, chopping vegetables in to evenly shaped pieces; she would come home and cook breakfast when she finished with Ranma. With prep work for the day's first meal done she began working on prep work for the restaurant. With her speed making the broth, chopping the ingredients, and making noodles all took at most 40 minutes. She could vaguely hear Shampoo quietly going about getting ready for the day, she then heard a loud crash as Moose obviously forgot to put his glasses on and tripped over something, soon they were both downstairs.

"Good morning great grandmother", Shampoo softly greeted, barely managing to maintain a happy tone as she came down the stairs into the restaurant.

"Good morning granddaughter", Cologne stated as put the last of the prepped ingredients away for later use. A loud rolling thud came as Moose tripped down the stairs. "Moose put your glasses on you idiot!" She demanded and didn't bother to wait for the 'yes honored elder' Moose let out as he scrambled through his robes for them. "It's a good thing those things are so thick" she thought to herself as she continued, "Shampoo, you and Moose are to get the dining area ready while I go out on some business I'll be back soon enough to prepare breakfast for us before we open."

"Yes grandmother." Was all Cologne heard before leaving.

* * *

Akane woke up feeling rested hearing the sound of Ranma and his father pummeling each other out in the yard. Akane stood up and stretched out her back and legs, afterwards she looked around her room still waking up she noticed the puzzle she had ruined yesterday. She felt so bad about breaking it yesterday after realizing that Ranma was trying to be sweet again. She sighed she would have to apologize to him later today. Hopefully he wasn't too sore about it or her hitting him. She should probably apologize for that too, her shoulders slumped a little about how much this would inflate Ranma's already huge ego, but this would be the only way to appease her guilty conscience.

She sighed as changed into her jogging clothes and went downstairs. She loved her morning jogs, in her opinion they were the best way to wake up in the morning, she loved the feeling of the cold morning air as she moved about the neighborhood, she loved the watching the world wake up with her, seeing stray cats out on the prowl for breakfast, the birds chirping, the smell of morning dew. Ranma's high pitched voice stopped her as she made her way out the house. She quietly wondered where his father was before noticing the elder man's face still imbedded partially in the ground. Ranma had obviously already gotten drenched today but he never seemed to mind getting splashed with cold water as much after a workout.

"Good morning Akane." He greeted with a smile on his face as he ran over to her. "I-i was thinking we could do some training this morning instead of your jog" Akane's mind sparked awake with excitement at the thought of some real training, wait did he just stutter; was he nervous?

"That sounds wonderful Ranma!" She was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, she was giddy with excitement. Ranma was finally going to train her! Nothing could get her down that is until she suddenly remembered the last thing he had shouted at her before she sent him flying yesterday. She was hit with a whole new wave of guilt as she sat down to put her running shoes on.

* * *

Ranma's morning started bright and early at the ungodly hour of 6 am by being thrown out the window of his bedroom by his father. He yawned as he adjusted midair so he would land on his feet, and started stretching while he ignored his father prattling on about how he had gone soft living in the city. After a couple toe touches he decided it was time to start the sparring session and placed his hands on the ground in preparation of his opening attack. Waiting till he was sure his father wouldn't bite his tongue off. He could hear him just yelling like he does when he charged in for an attack; this was his chance for. He transferred all of his weight quickly to his hands, performing something that looked like a crouched front flip, as he let his weight fall for ward he pushed off the ground and delivered a powerful kick to his father's jaw, launching him back the direction he came from. Genma landed with a thud where as Ranma touched down with not so much as a sound. He stalked over to Genma's prone figure, absolutely sure his father was feigning unconsciousness, he bent over and pick his father up by the gi.

"Come on pops I'm not even warmed up yet" he didn't act surprised when Genma went for a sucker punch. A classic one of Genma's moves; Ranma knew better than to fall for it, instead he let go of the gi in favor for the arm heading for his face, turning with the fist as it went past his face Ranma pulled his father with the punch and threw him over his shoulder. "Can you get some new material pop's I think this one's getting worn out." He taunted.

"I'll show you worn out, boy!" Genma yelled as he put his other hand down to perform a flip and landed ready to attack again. He saw Ranma's eyes flit off toward the second story of the Tendo compound, Akane's light came on which meant she was getting ready to go jogging. Genma took his chance to attack Ranma while he was distracted by throwing him into the koi pond. Ranma was out of the pond in faster than Genma could blink an eye, delivering a lightning fast axe kick to the back of Genma's head, embedding him in the dirt.

"Now just rehearse what I want to say until she comes down" He thought as he started to repeat his offer to help her train today. He headed toward the front door, determined to catch her before she left for her jog, he figured he could train her in speed on her jog and balance on the way to school. Then when they got home if all went well he would be able to focus on technique after homework. He heard her shout that she was leaving for her jog and had to run to catch up.

He caught her as she came to the front door to put her shoes on. He was nervous and pretty sure he was stuttering but he said what he wanted to. He stood there watching her bounce in excitement like a child would, dang-it why did she have to be just so cute.

"A-alright well, w-we should start with some speed training, so instead of your normal jogging speed you're going to do your best to match my speed the entire time." He and Akane sat down to put their running shoes on together, well for Ranma it was just his normal shoes. Akane was still tying her shoes, but she looked conflicted she gave a sigh and stood up.

* * *

Akane sat there tying her shoes until the thought of the puzzle lying on her desk completely unsolvable thanks to her, guilt swarmed her as she thought about how nice a conversation they were have up until that point. He really didn't deserve to be hit like that for working on a puzzle.

"Ranma, I…" She paused to work up the courage to look him right in the eye, "I wanted to say I'm sorry for breaking your puzzle and hitting you like that yesterday, it was completely uncalled for and I shouldn't have done that." Now that she had thought about it she had beaten him alot when he was completely innocent on quite a few occasions. "In fact I haven't ever apologized for any of the other times you didn't deserve it, so I'm sorry I really am. I understand why you want to wait until I can control my anger better to start sparring. I understand if you're still mad at me." She could actively feel tears starting to form, she wiped them away before they got too big.

Ranma stood up he suddenly felt a rush of pride and joy not in himself but in Akane. She was actively trying to make up for hitting him yesterday, and she even apologized for doing it in the past. She was actively trying to make a change, he wanted to heave a sigh of relief but he didn't let himself. "Hey don't worry about it too much. I deserve to get hit more often than not so it's not a big deal. And I'll just tell Toyo I accidentally broke his puzzle when I got in a fight and buy him a new one. Besides I should be the one to apologize, I'm the one always insulting you and everything." He was starting to relax talking to her. They started to head out the house, he watched as Akane started stretching. "I really am sorry about calling you un-cute and a tomboy and stuff, but I happen to like tomboys, especially cute ones like you." He realized what he had just said and clamped his hands over his mouth already blushing furiously. Akane was blushing as well; standing there with a huge smile on her face. He started screaming in his head the phrase "we should get going before I ruin this" over and over until he was able to say it out loud. He turned to lead her on the speed training but she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a bone crushingly tight hug. He mentally added strength control to the list of training exercises, hugged back.

"Thank you Ranma" she said as she let go. "we should get going or else your dad is going to eat our breakfast by the time we get back"

Ranma didn't need to be told twice with that he turned around and started Akane's training.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for the delay, everything in this chapter feels off, I don't know what it is. Probably because Ranma and Akane are out of character, but that can hardly be helped with character who actively grow and change through the story. Sticking to the same character traits throughout a story stifles the possibility for growth in my opinion. Ryoga may show up next chapter I'm not sure if there will be a fight or not.

Also I recently read Ranma's wikipage to see his other techniques and found out Ranma can move at supersonic speeds, meaning he can literally break the sound barrier on foot. With speed like that the only reason any fight he has with anyone but like Saffron or Cologne/Happosai would last longer than a minute is because he's going easy.


	7. Shaping Up to be A Great Day

_**A/N:**_ After taking some time off from this for mental health reasons; I've come back with a fresh perspective. I apologize for making you wait so long. I've decided this will have characters from both the manga and the anime, such as Konatsu (not super solid on his character) and Sasuke (very briefly but possible for more appearances later). Anyways I may also post some stuff for other fandoms too soon as well as a reverse au for Ranma, where Akane is the one of the training trip, while Ranma grows up at home (no clue when that will be posted but keep an eye out for it). I'll probably try to get a few chapters out for this before I post anything else. _On a different note, how about I make a deal with you guys; for every review you guys leave me I'll write a sentence, your kind words help keep me motivated to write this._ For instance someone said they liked how I try to write like Rumiko Takahashi's original, and it made me so happy that it practically cured my depression for a couple days; helped me get out about half of this chapter alone. Anyway Enjoy. 

* * *

Ukyo woke up early this morning she had to prep food for when she got home from school later. Konatsu was sleeping in the other room, and he would handle any customers that came during the day. She was grateful that he did but was concerned, 'I wonder if he would like to go to school with us…' She thought as she pulled on her usual uniform for school and walked downstairs to start prepping the food for Konatsu to use while she was away. She saw the light turn on under Konatsu's door she didn't say anything to him but she definitely heard him shuffling around in there.

She got out ingredients and began chopping up the vegetables and meat options all in all it took about 20 minutes to get the ingredients chopped up. Konatsu came down the stairs; she immediately noticed a difference she couldn't quite figure out what thought. "Good Morning Konatsu. Did you do something different to day?" She asked as she began to mix fresh batter for the okonomiyaki today. Lately this part of prep work made her feel guilty; it reminded her of how she wrecked the Tendo dojo… and the wedding, she felt slightly less guilty about that since everyone else also crashed the wedding. She missed some grand adventure everyone but her and Konatsu somehow got to be a part of and when they got back Ranma and Akane seemed closer than ever, going so far as to try and get married. She tried to be happy for them at first she really did she was even going to make okonomiyaki for the wedding as a gift, like free catering, but as she was cooking the ingredients for the food slowly changed to ingredients for her secret techniques. Before she knew it she was running to the Tendo dojo with a cask of explosive Okonomiyaki batter strapped to her back, in a jealousy fueled frenzy that destroyed the dojo.

"Ah yes, I decided to go without makeup today" the kunoichi boy responeded, as he went around the restaurant setting tables, with menus "you know try something different."

'Try something different…' Ukyo thought to herself "It suits you Konatsu." She said trying not to be jealous of the young man's natural beauty; he was somehow prettier as a girl than she was even without makeup. She tried not to let that get to her. "Hey Konatsu have you ever thought about going to Furinkan as a student? You do need to finish school and you can't do that here at the restaurant."

Konatsu paused while in the middle of pulling a chair off a table. "I haven't really thought about it no… If I went do you think they'd make me wear a male uniform?"

"You know… I'm not really sure they don't make me wear a girl's uniform, so maybe not. I'll have to ask." Her mind was still on the wedding, she'd been meaning to apologize to Ranma but she felt so guilty she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. Doing this for Konatsu was a great way to take her mind off of things even if it was a tad bit selfish to do so just to ignore her problems. She started to make breakfast for herself and Konatsu. "I'll talk to someone at the school office about getting you signed up if you like."

"That sounds nice Lady Ukyo." He felt so lucky to have someone like Ukyo thinking about him. 

* * *

Ranma's training session with Akane ran uninterrupted aside from the occasional stop to pet a dog or look at the sunrise together. It was strange to be like this with her but he definitely like it better then how they were before. But halfway through Akane seemed out of breath which is strange she shouldn't be having trouble keeping up at this stage he just now started his ki enhanced set. He figured she would have sensed him start using ki and follow his lead but her ki just sat there stagnated around her; it should be focused around her legs and feet, or at least coursing around her like a battle aura, but it just sat there unused. Ranma came to a complete halt a few yards away from her.

"Hey Akane, You missed the cue to switch to ki enhanced running." He said as though posing a question.

"What do you mean -huff- ki enhanced running?" she got between gasps for air.

"Now… How to explain it?" Ranma stopped to think about how to explain it in a way that Akane would understand. He knew she understood the basics from watching him learn it from dealing with Happosai's battle aura and from breaking brick she's been practicing with it whether she knew it or not. But the sun was beginning to get rise high over the city now and by Ranma's guess it was getting to be about 7:20 they were going to be late if they didn't head back now. He scratched his head trying to explain it was difficult. "We'll have to go in to depth later but you've been doing it every time you go to break bricks. For now we gotta get going so we can make it to school on time. I can explain more in depth later on the way to school we can also ask your dad to explain he probably would do better at it since he's always using his demon head technique."

Akane got this look on her face as she started to get hyped up about learning a new skill, sporting one of the biggest smiles Ranma had ever seen; damn she was cute when she smiled. It always made him feel like he was floating on air when she smiled.

Ranma and Akane sat listening to their fathers go on about ki manipulation and its various applications such as strengthening one's body and or preparing and extra strong attack, not to mention special attacks that required special styles of manipulation. It was overall very informative to them both usually Ranma learned to actually do the technique then make them his own, never actually learning the technical side of it. He was never really good with that stuff anyway, and it was always different based on who you asked and sometimes came with long spiels about some spiritual nonsense. This is why he liked his dad's explanation it's mostly scientific with a small explanation on how to do it. It's great. Anyway after a lecture turned battle between their fathers they realized Nabiki had left already they realized they were going to be late for school and left their fathers to fight saying good bye to Kasumi and Ranma's mother. They left out the Tendo compound and started booking it to school, Akane was actually trying to figure out how to do run using her ki to go faster, she was doing great but she needed a little push to get her all the way to full stride.

"You're doing great Akane but you have to use all your ki in your legs." Ranma coached her as she took the advice in stride she suddenly got a huge burst in speed and Ranma had to catch up, cheering her on the whole way, when he finally caught up he could see the huge smile on her face as the wind swept her hair back. He silently wished moments like these could last forever. They ran completely past Cologne, without even noticing that she was there. 

* * *

Cologne considered whether or not she wanted to chase after the two only for a moment; before bounding after them it surprised her how fast Akane was going. It was clear that Ranma had decided to start training her and from the looks of it he was making great progress already. It would probably be best to warn him that since he officially nullified the kiss of marriage the kiss of death would now be in effect again for both of them. She should also probably warn them of the way to get that nullified as well, but he broke her granddaughter's heart maybe she would allow Shampoo to wreak a little havoc before giving the two the answer to that problem. To be honest the kiss of death didn't actually apply to either of them, since from what Cologne understood Akane didn't actually defeat Shampoo in an official battle, and well the kiss of death doesn't ever apply to males even ones cursed to change into a female. She'd tell them later she decided ultimately but she needed to confirm with Ranma that Shampoo was 100% out of the race for his hand in marriage, so she bounded after them taking a couple of short cuts to wind up in front of them before sticking her staff out and catching Ranma's ankle and making him face plant and slide across the concrete. Akane came to a grinding halt next to him to check on him.

"Are you okay, Ranma what happened?" she hadn't seen Cologne trip him.

"The old hag tripped me." He pulled his face off the street it had a couple of scrapes and a small portion of the skin of his cheek was missing not to mention slight bruising. If he had seen her half a second earlier he wouldn't have tripped he was too busy cheering on Akane to notice. "Akane you were doing so amazing, you're picking this up so quickly, at this rate you'll be as good as me or Ryoga in no time." He didn't really want to say that last part out loud but it just came out with the rest of the thought; all this while decidedly ignoring the smack on the head from Cologne.

"You think so!" she said as she helped him off the ground "We should probably stop by Dr. Tofu's to get that bandaged or at least the nurse's office." Ranma nodded his head in agreement.

He got a second smack for ignoring Cologne. "Gah! Come on what do you want you shriveled up old hag!?" A welt was beginning to grow on Ranma's head.

"Son-in-… Ranma I've come to confirm with you that you officially refuse to marry Shampoo. And have decided to be with Akane instead." She decided to try and see if the normal ways of manipulating him would work, if it did he would be too flustered to answer properly and Shampoo would be back on to try and marry him again.

"Yes, I decided I'd rather be with Akane rather than Shampoo." He couldn't help the blush from coming over him but it was easy to pass off has just redness from his faceplant. Akane visibly blushed as well, so the two weren't completely comfortably with their relationship status yet, Cologne noted maybe there was still a chance for her granddaughter yet. "Very well, but know that this will have consequences."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ I definitely don't know enough about Konatsu to write him, if you have info on his character pm me or leave me a review about it.


	8. Ranma Makes a House Call

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long and is so short this scene in general was a pain in the ass. Anyway I left out some of the more grotesque details to keep things light. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to leave me a review.

* * *

After the Cologne decided to be unnecessarily vague about some superficial consequences, and leave very abruptly. Ranma and Akane made their way to Dr. Tofu's clinic to have him patch up Ranma's scrapes, there was some time to stop and visit him because of Akane's learning to do ki enhanced running. They knocked on the door to the clinic he was usually in this time of morning but getting things cleaned up before he had any visitors.

* * *

Dr. Tofu had been away for a while. His mother had fallen ill and he went to be with her in hopes of helping her make a speedy recovery. But… things don't always work out that way; his mother fought the illness for a full month before succumbing to the disease. In the end he wound up having to stay longer and plan her funeral. It was a small affair just family and close friends. It had been pretty lonely without her still around. Tofu started the day by opening the clinic and sweeping the pavement outside, before going inside and dusting the furniture a month of dust had built up while he was gone. Cleaning everything down was, in a way refreshing. After the layer of dust was gone he set up the shrine, the same one his mother had when she visited a few months back. Only now it housed a picture of both his parents. He kneeled at the shrine.

"Good morning mother, father-", seeing the shrine in his clinic brought up memories of the time she'd come and caused a huge ruckus about him settling down and making her some grandbabies for her to spoil. There was a knock at the door; he didn't really have any appointments set up since returning he had hardly had time to let his patients know he was back in town. But he did get one patient yesterday was that Kuno boy, who came in with his nose broken; perhaps he had spread the word that Tofu was back in town. "Come in, and have a seat I'll be right with you." He closed his eyes and began a silent prayer when he heard people whispering behind him. The two voices he recognized as Akane and Ranma, after a second of hushed whispers he heard one of them kneel down next to him at the shrine, followed a second later by the other.

Doctor Tofu stood up moments later and was swiftly followed by Ranma, the kid was glad to be done with that awkward moment. Figuring it best to move on from that sour moment, "And how are you two this morning."

"We're well Dr. Tofu," Akane started "we had a little accident on the way to school."

"tch, yeah an 'accident'. Akane and I were working on her ki enhancement and the old ghoul tripped me," he used air quotes on the word accident. They were in the back now.

"I'm surprised to hear that you didn't catch yourself Ranma, from my understanding you're usually really good about that." He gestured for Ranma to take a seat across from him. There he started to examine the scrapes and cuts across the side of Ranma's face. There were small rocks stuck in some of the cuts.

"yeah well I woulda but I was kinda distracted…" he trailed off toward the end, so it was hard to tell what he said. Tofu returned a moment later with a tray with the supplies he would need, which consisted of a pair of tweezers, antiseptic and a few kinds of bandages, he was hoping the long cut that scaled Ranma's cheek was shallower than it looked.

"Oh? And what were you so distracted by?" He said as he got to work pulling the pebbles from Ranma's face. Ranma faltered for a minute his eyes darted towards Akane for a second who was too busy watching Dr. Tofu work to notice. Though Dr. Tofu definitely did and a knowing smile form on his lips.

"I…" he was having trouble getting the words out. "This should be easy," he thought to himself, "I like her why can't I just say what I really want to about her." He took a breath in and looked at Akane her smile was gone now, as she watched the doctor with growing concern.

"Ranma this is gonna hurt a bit." The doctor asked as he tried to pull something that was definitely not a pebble. Slowly a long shard of red-stained, green glass shard slid out of the long cut in Ranma's cheek.

Ranma flinched as Dr. Tofu tugged on it but otherwise didn't move. "jeez…" he said through clenched teeth trying to down play the amount of pain that caused. Akane hissed as she watched the doctor pull the piece out.

"I'm sorry Ranma but that's gonna need some stitches it cut pretty deep, but not to worry it shouldn't take but a week to heal and only a couple minutes to put in." He said as he swabbed disinfectant into the cuts. Technically Dr. Tofu was only a chiropractor but being close to home made people come to him so he always kept supplies for situations like these in case of an emergency. He proceeded to apply a local numbing agent to Ranma's cheek before he started with the stitches it wasn't many, just 5 stitches up the side of his cheek. He covered it with a bandage. "I know it's impossible with you but you're going to have to try and keep these dry at least until this time tomorrow. But should it be that you do get splashed I want you to change the bandage to a dry one and pat dry the stitches don't rub them or they might break. Also apply some antibiotic to it. Outside that the other cuts should heal fine on their own in a couple days; maybe sooner knowing how quickly you heal."

"Oh I'm sorry I missed the wedding, I did get you a gift you should come by after school to get it. I still have to unpack them still." At the mention of school both of their faces lit with a sudden dawning.

"Oh no we're gonna be late!" Akane declared.

"Thanks for the help Doc but we gotta run."

"We'll try to stop by later!" Akane shouted as they ran out the door for school.

"If only they'd stay a second longer I could have written them a note." He smiled as he watched them run out the door; it was nice to be home again. Maybe he'd call Kasumi later…

* * *

A/N: Yeah again sorry its short. I felt y'all deserved a chapter sooner rather than later. I'm hoping the next scene is going to be better/faster to write.


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